Christina Applegate, 52, has always been open about her health journey over the years, revealing she has endured insomnia, early menopause, breast cancer, and has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
The Dead To Me actress was first diagnosed with MS in August 2021, and has since revealed the struggles that come along with the disease affecting the central nervous system.
Announcing her MS diagnosis in 2021, Christina Applegate wrote, “Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS.”
“It’s been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition,” she continued.
“It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a***hole blocks it.”
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Most recently, the star admitted that she is struggling with depression as a result of her MS, which has heartbreakingly impacted her will to live.
“Like a real, f**k-it-all depression where it’s kind of scaring me, too, a little bit because it feels really fatalistic. I’m trapped in, like, this darkness right now that I haven’t felt [in], like, I don’t even know how long, probably 20-something years,” she said on an episode of her podcast, MeSsy.
“This is being really honest … I don’t enjoy living,” she candidly shared. “I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy things anymore.”
Christina was diagnosed with MS in 2021.
(Getty) (Credit: (Getty))The Married… with Children actress has faced several health concerns throughout her life, including a breast cancer diagnosis in 2008 followed by a double mastectomy.
Christina also had her ovaries and fallopian tubes precautionarily removed in 2017 as she has a genetically heightened risk of developing cancer.
The 52-year-old also endured surgery-induced menopause in 2018, and has had a long battle with insomnia.
Christina spoke to PEOPLE in 2018, revealing she felt a responsibility to fans to be open about her health.
“If you do have a voice to do it, which we [as actors] are fortunate to have this platform to be like, ‘I am just like you, I can’t sleep, I feel like crap a lot of the time because of this, but I want you to feel okay with it and not feel shame about it and get information about it so that you can have a better quality of life,’ […] and same goes for my battle with cancer.”
The actress also revealed she has started writing a memoir about her childhood in Hollywood, as well as her complex health journey so far.
Christina and Selma starred in The Sweetest Thing together in 2002.
(Getty) (Credit: (Getty))Selma Blair, another actress who has heartbreakingly been diagnosed with MS, sent a touching message to Christina after her own diagnosis.
“Loving you always. Always here. As are our kids,” Selma wrote in a tweet.
The former Sweetest Thing co-stars have been each other’s support systems over the past few years.
“If you need something she’s at your house. There have been things that I had been unglued, and she’s like, ‘I’m outside. Answer the door.’ She’s just amazing and strong and fun,” Selma said of Christina.
Christina was emotional after receiving a standing ovation at the Emmys in 2024.
(Getty) (Credit: (Getty))Christina attended the 75th Emmy Awards in January 2024, where she received a standing ovation as she walked on stage before announcing the winner of the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
It was a surprise appearance from Christina as she previously stated that she expected her last appearance at an awards show as an actor would be at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The Emmy award-winning actress was received so warmly by the audience that she got emotional.
“”Thank you so much! Oh my God! You’re totally shaming me [and my] disability by standing up,” Christina said, generating laughter from the audience.
“Some of you may know me as Kelly Bundy from Married… with Children,” Christina said before running through some of her most popular characters from her career.
Dead To Me ran from 2019 – 2022.
(Getty) (Credit: (Getty))Christina has also spoken about the future of her acting career, telling Variety in 2022, “It’s about finding what I’m capable of doing.”
“I’m so new in this right now. It takes time to kind of figure out this disease, and figure out what’s bringing on symptoms. I’m just a newbie to all of this. So I’m trying to figure it out — and I’m also in mourning for the person who I was. I have to find a place that’s as loving as my set was, where they won’t think I’m a diva by saying, ‘Hey, I can only work five hours.'”
Speaking with Vanity Fair in May 2023, Christina shared that she doesn’t think she’ll work as an actress again, after most recently starring in Dead To Me‘s third and final season.
“Right now, I couldn’t imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and spending 12 to 14 hours on a set; I don’t have that in me at this moment,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2023.
